Crystal the Vampire Slayer
by elizabethmarie7
Summary: Crystal and her siblings lives were normal until their parents passed. Crystal decided that it would be best for her to go live with their Uncle John. After eight months, she is being pulled back home. Uncle John is seriously injured and there is a doppelgänger running around and threatening her family. Little did she know, she would be falling for a vampire when she came home.
1. Biography

Name: Crystal Marie Gilbert

Species: Petrova doppelgänger

Occupation: Vampire Slayer like her Uncle John

Siblings: Elena (twin sister) and Jeremy (younger brother)

Parents: Miranda and Grayson Gilbert (Deceased)

Past Legal Guardian: Uncle John

Current Legal Guardian: Aunt Jenna

Friend: Bonnie

Best Friends: Matt and Caroline

Ex-Boyfriend: Tyler

She lived with her parents, sister, and brother, but when her parents died she went to live with her Uncle John. After a year she decided to move back to Mystic Falls to live with her Aunt Jenna, Elena, and Jeremy after her uncle was injured. She knows about the supernatural and is trained to be a vampire slayer. She looks more like Katherine than her sister. She feels like its her responsibility to keep her family safe especially her sister.


	2. Welcome Home

_Dear Diary,_

_I wish I was coming home under happier circumstances but home is home. I left because mom and dad died, and I'm returning because Uncle John is seriously injured. No matter where I go bad things seem to follow. I'm excited to see my family again though. I missed my sister and brother. A part of me will always regret leaving them but I know it was for the better. I just felt so empty without Elena, like my reason for living was gone. I am happy to hear how Aunt Jenna stepped in so Elena and Jeremy weren't alone. I would never want them to feel like they're alone. _

_Love,_  
_Crystal Gilbert _

The plane I was in landed so I packed my diary in my bag and exited. I got my bag from the terminal and walked outside. Just stepping foot in Mystic Falls made me feel more myself. I spotted Jenna and walked over to her. "Hello Aunt Jenna, I missed you." I hugged her and teared up a little.

"I missed you too and so do Elena and Jeremy." She told me.

"Speaking of those little buggers. Where are they?" I asked as I let go of her and we started walking towards the car.

"They are at Mayor Lockwood's wake." She sighed.

"Mayor Lockwood died?" I said as my heart sank. "I should attend to see how Tyler is doing. We didn't part in the best way but he is still like family to me. Do we know how he passed?"

"He died in a burning building." She answered. "Sadly this town hasn't had a good year. A number of people had passed or been seriously injured. Caroline, Matt, and Tyler got in a car crash just the other day and Caroline is currently in the hospital."

"Is Caroline alright?" I inquired worryingly.

"It looked bad for a while but all of a sudden she started getting better. She should make a full recovery." She reassured me even though the way she explained it made me think Caroline may have consumed vampire blood.

"Aunt Jenna, after we get home, could I borrow your car to visit Uncle John and Caroline at the hospital then go meet Jer and Elena at the wake." I wondered.

"Absolutely." She confirmed.

"Thank you so much." I hugged her again before putting my bags in the back and getting in the car. The drive there was pretty quiet but I liked seeing the town again. We arrived at the house and I grabbed my bag out of the car.

"Welcome home." She said as she opened the door. I walked in and felt the familiar rush of comfort that only coming home could make me feel.


	3. Hospital

I arrived at the Mystic Falls Hospital and got out of the car. I looked up at the building. This place brought back both good emotions and bad emotions. This is the place where dad worked. I remember coming with Elena to watch him work since she has wanted to be a nurse since she was a kid. This was also the place where mom and dad where taken after the wreck though. One of the last places I went before I left town. I sighed before entering. I walked to Uncle John's room and opened the door. "Hello, Uncle John."

"Katherine." He said frantically as his eyes widened and his fingers fumbled for the button to call the nurse.

"No, it's Crystal." I closed the door and showed him my vervain necklace. "I came when I found out you were injured. I figured it must be something supernatural when I heard your fingers were cut and by your reaction, I'm guessing it was Katherine." I walked over to him.

"Yes, it was. The plan to catch all the tomb vampires did not fully work. Katherine survived alongside both the Salvatore brothers." Uncle John explained.

"It looks like I picked the best time to move back home." I scoffed. "I think I have learned a lot from you over the last year but I believe it's time for me to return. Elena has been getting into a lot of danger and I'm well equipped to help protect her."

"I agree. Elena is going to need you here since I am being forced to leave town." He sighed.

"Why? What happened?" I asked.

"Stefan force feed me his blood and threatened that if I'm not gone in 24 hours that he will kill me." He answered.

"Don't worry, I will protect her with my life." I assured him.

"Well, you will have help from Damon and Stefan." He said begrudgingly.

"Great. I have to deal with two vampires. Wish me luck." I sarcastically said to him. "I'm happy that you are alright though. I will miss you Uncle John." I hugged him.

"Good luck." He smiled before I left his room.

I went over to the nurse at the table. "Miss, what room is Caroline Forbes in?"

"She is in room 113." The nurse pointed at a hallway.

"Thank you." I smiled before going to Caroline's room. I opened the door. "Hey, how are you doing?" I asked Caroline as I closed the door and walked over to her.

"Crystal? Is that you?" Caroline asked excitedly.

"In the flesh." I smirked as I hugged her. "I just got in town since Uncle John is seriously injured and heard about what happened to you so I'm here. How are you feeling?"

"Physically, I am feeling much better. There was a moment when I thought I wouldn't make it." She said sadly and I squeezed her hand. "Luckily, I started getting much better. Mentally, I am still a little thrown. I am happy that Matt and Tyler weren't hurt too badly. Sorry to hear about Tyler's father though."

"I am going to Mayor Lockwood's wake after I get done here. I want to pay my respects and see how Tyler is doing." I told her.

"How is your Uncle John?" She wondered.

"Luckily, he is also doing much better." I answered her.

"How long are you visiting?" She asked.

"Indefinitely." I smiled. "I have decided to move back. I have missed this place too much."

She hugged me. "That makes me so happy. I have missed you so much."

"I missed you too." I hugged her back. "I should get going now. If you need anything just call me. I'll be here for you."

"Thank you, Crystal." She waved goodbye as I walked out of her room.

I left the hospital and got into the car. I placed my head on the wheel. I'm happy that Caroline was doing well. I am a little unhappy that Stefan threatened Uncle John but I'm happy that he will be leaving town so he doesn't get hurt again. The easy part was done. Now I have to go to the wake. Don't know if I'm more worried about talking to Tyler, meeting the Salvatore's, or potentially running into Katherine. I sighed before I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.


	4. The One and Only

I looked up at the Lockwood Mansion. This place brought up a lot of memories since it was basically my second home. Tyler was one of my best friends growing up so I remember playing together and running around the house. When we were dating, I remember sneaking him out of the house to hang out in middle school and sneaking into the house to spend the night with him in high school. I also remember coming here after I decided to leave town. I left him a note saying that I was leaving and not coming back for a long time so he should move on. Coming back here fills me with mixed emotions.

Tyler was greeting people at the door so at least I couldn't put off talking to him. I locked my car and walked up to the house. "Hello, Tyler."

"Elena? I thought I already greeted you and you were wearing something else." He furled his brow.

"Guess again." I shyly smiled.

"Crystal!" His eyes lit up and he hugged me.

"Yes. The one and only." I settled into the hug feeling comforted by the fact he wasn't furious at me even though I wouldn't blame him if he was. "I'm sorry for leaving suddenly when my parents died and I'm sorry to hear about your dad." I separated from him.

"You don't have to be sorry anymore. I used to feel so angry and disappointed that you left so suddenly but after my dad passed I realized what you were going through." He sympathized. "All I want to do right now is runaway, leave this town, and forget about this."

"I made the wrong decision by running away. It took a long time to come to terms with my parents passing since I kept pushing to the back of my mind. When I finally started to feel myself, all I wanted to do was come home, but I felt so guilty about leaving that I had a hard time deciding to move back." I explained to him. "I know how you are feeling but don't worry. Everything does get better over time. Plus I will be here to help you if you need me."

"That means a lot, Crystal." He thanked me. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Tyler." I grinned. "I need to go find Elena so I will see you later." I waved goodbye as I entered the house. I wondered around the house and said hello to everyone who greeted me. I couldn't find Elena or Jeremy. I walked into a less crowded room and before I knew anything I was immediately pushed against a wall with my upper arms being pinned.

"Hello, Katherine." The man pinning me to the wall smirked. I looked up at him and recognized him as Damon Salvatore. He met the description John gave me. He had dark, messy hair, piercing, ice blue eyes, a slight tan, for a vampire, and was few inches taller than me. He was very attractive, but then again, most vampires are.

"I'm not Katherine." I corrected him.

"Nice try." He scoffed. "You are not Elena. She doesn't dress like this or wear her hair curled. You were much better at pretending to be Elena yesterday." He tightened his grip and I could feel bruises starting to form. "What do you want, Katherine?"

"Again, not Katherine." I emphasized. "Damon, has Elena not told you about me?" I giggled which made him angry.

"Who are you?" He growled as his grip got tighter, which definitely caused my arms to start hurting.

"Crystal." I heard Elena say in a small voice from beside me.

I turned to look at her. She seemed startled to see me. "Hello, sister." I smiled at her.

"Sister?" He questioned.

"This is my twin sister, Crystal." Elena answered his question. "Who I did not know would be visiting?"

"I guess Aunt Jenna didn't tell you I would be coming in." I explained. "Can you please tell Damon to let me go?"

"I'm still not totally convinced you are not Katherine." He responded. Elena seemed shocked that I knew his name and that he mentioned Katherine's name in front of me.

"I'm wearing a vervain necklace. You can touch it to make sure." I told him.

He reached toward my necklace and it burned him when he touched it. "Fine, you're not Katherine." He let go of me.

"You know about Katherine and Damon?" Elena asked in a confused tone.

"Uncle John told me everything and taught me how to protect myself from ... you know what." I motioned fangs so I could avoid saying vampire inside a venue where most the members of the Founder Council are. "After Uncle John got seriously harmed, I decided that it was finally time for me to return home. I know you are most likely mad at me for leaving but I hope I can make it up to you."

Elena hugged me. "There is no way I could be mad at you. We all dealt with our parents death in different ways. I'm just happy our family is finally going to be back together." She comforted me.

"I'm happy to be back." I grinned. "Where is Jeremy by the way?"

"Jeremy is around here somewhere if you want to go talk to him. Just be careful since Katherine could be anywhere." She warned.

"Don't worry, I will be careful. If you need anything feel free to find me. I will meet back up with you after. I'm excited to finally meet Mr. Stefan Salvatore." I pestered her.

"I will introduce you to him later." She laughed.

"I'm guessing you were just as excited to meet me." Damon jested.

"Judging by the bruises already forming on my arms, of course I was," I smirked and sarcastically answered before continuing my sentence. "not excited to meet you." Elena giggled. "I'm going to go meet up with Jeremy." I left to go find him.

—

After wondering around the mansion, I heard voices coming from Mayor Lockwood's office. I entered and I saw Tyler and Jeremy, who was drinking from a flask. I grabbed the flask from him.

"Hey." Jeremy griped before he looked at me and his eyes widened.

"Don't worry, it's the cool sister." I smiled and took a swig from the flask.

"Crystal?" He said hesitantly.

"Yes, Jer, it's me." I hugged him. "Don't worry, it's me." I repeated in a softer voice which made him relax into the hug.

"I've missed you." Jeremy separated from me.

"I've missed you too." I opened the flask and was about to take another sip when someone took it from me.

"Hey!" I said then turned around to see Mason Lockwood.

"You two don't have somewhere else to be?" He asked condescendingly.

"Well look who also decided to come back." I smiled at him. He looked pretty similar to how he did when I last saw him but he looked a little older. That makes sense since the last time I saw him was seven years ago.

"It's been a while since I've last seen you. You sure have grown, Elena." He smirked at me and I glared at him. "I'm kidding, Crystal. I knew it was you." Mason hugged me. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too Mason." He let go of me and I turned to wave goodbye. "See you later, Tyler." I smiled at him as I walked out with Jeremy.

"How have you been, Jer?" I asked him.

"These eight months have been rough. Especially with you gone, but I understand why you left. I also dealt with the loss in bad way." He sighed and looked uncomfortable talking about it.

"I understand, Jer. You don't have to talk about it." I patted his back. "I have decided to move back so hopefully we can become more of a family again."

"I would love that." He smiled.

I smiled back. "I'm going to go try to find Elena. I'm excited to start harassing her boyfriend."

"Good luck." Jeremy laughed before I went to go look for them.

—

I went outside to check the gardens. I saw Elena sitting on a bench next to who I could presume to be Stefan. He had short brown hair that was styled at the top, emerald green eyes, and a slight tan also, I guess vampires aren't all pale. I couldn't tell his height very well since he was leaning against the bench since he seemed to be hurt. "I'm guessing Katherine did this. What happened?"

"She stabbed him with one of those pieces of iron." Elena pointed to one on the ground as she tended to his wound.

"You must be Crystal. I learned about you just a few moments ago." He admitted and shook my hand.

"I approve so far, Elena. I like him better than the other Salvatore brother.

"You better not be talking about me." I heard Damon say from behind me. ''I tried to track her but she's gone. Ouch, cover up Fabio." Damon commented which made Stefan pull down his shirt. "You have a crazy ex on the loose." He turned to Elena. "You better watch out, looks like Katherine is trying to steal your guy."

"That's not what happened." Stefan replied while looking down.

"Isn't it?" Damon snarked. "I mean it's only fair since I went after your girl."

"We're going to go check on Jenna and Jeremy." Elena stood up and grabbed my hand. "Let me know when you guys are done." We started walking away from them.

—

I was getting ready for bed in my old room. Most of my stuff was still in my carry on luggage. I didn't have much in there since I left most of my belongs here when I left so it was weird having all my possessions again. Being here brought back all the emotions I had after my mom and dad died, but this time I would not run from it. I'm going to stay here and be strong for Elena and Jeremy.

I was about ready to get in bed when I heard a thud and Elena crying. I left my room and walked into Elena's room where I saw Elena cradling Jeremy who was unconscious. I put my hand over my mouth. "What happened?"

"Damon came in, kissed me, tried to get me to say that I love him, and then snapped Jeremy's neck when I said I loved Stefan." She said through her tears as I started to tear up and panic too. I knelt down beside Elena and checked his pulse on his left wrist. There was none. When I laid his hand down, I noticed that he had a ring on his left hand, which made my heart skip a beat. I turned over his hand to look at it and it was a Gilbert ring.

"Elena, he has Uncle John's Gilbert ring on." I showed her. "He's going to be alright." I started crying tears of joy. I held Jeremy's hand as Elena cradled his body.

—

_Dear Diary,_

_I am so happy to be finally able to get in bed after a long day. Elena called Stefan to tell him what happened to Jeremy so he immediately came to the house. I wanted to be there when he woke up but I wanted to give Elena time to talk to Stefan about what happened. I will make sure he is doing well tomorrow morning. I am mad at Damon but I mostly blame Katherine for how this day went. Damon is still going to get a piece of my mind though. _

_Love, _

_Crystal Gilbert_


	5. Coffee

"Wake up." I heard Elena says whilst trying to jostle me awake. I groaned and turned away from her. "Crystal, you have to wake up, we have things to do today." She started poking me.

"Do you have coffee?" I replied still laying in bed facing away from her.

"You think I don't know how to wake you after all these years?" She smirked.

"Thank you, Elena." I turned around and took the coffee from her. "What do we have to do today."

"We are gonna help Bonnie with the school carnival." She sat down on the bed with me.

"I don't go to the high school anymore." I reminded her.

"Aunt Jenna enrolled you and luckily you don't have to be behind a year." She said happily.

"I was hoping she wouldn't enroll me." I complained while taking a swig of coffee.

"Bonnie really needs the extra help since she is taking over for Caroline and if it does not turn out well then Caroline will be mad. Bonnie said she would bring us down with her if things go wrong." She informed me.

"Sounds like there is no way around this." I sighed. "I will help out just let me get ready real fast." I shooed her away. "Thank you for the coffee again."

* * *

"Want me to drive you." Elena asked as I walked down stairs into the kitchen.

"No, I have Jenna's car for the day. My car is supposed to come in tomorrow." I answered as Jeremy came down the stairs. "Jer, do you want to ride with me? I am going to stop somewhere for breakfast."

"As long as you guys arrive at time." Elena added.

"Sounds good." Jeremy said while walking towards the door.

"By the way Chris, Uncle John wanted me to tell you he said good bye." Jeremy said as I got into the car.

"I forgot he was leaving. I wish I got to say goodbye myself. I am happy he is leaving though since it's dangerous here." I started the car after we were buckled in. "Where do you want to go?"

"Doesn't matter to me. Why don't you choose since you just got back." He replied.

"Alright." I said happily. "No offensive to Elena, but I need some better coffee."


	6. The Carnival

I was a little mad about having to work the carnival after just arriving yesterday, but having a distraction from everything that happened yesterday is welcome. Especially what Damon did to Jeremy. I'm not sure how I feel about it since Jeremy is alive and he said he wanted to talk to Damon about it. Elena is very mad at Damon but I don't know him. The only thing I know is that he loves Katherine and has a lot of control over him. So I don't know if this is the real him or him being manipulated by Katherine. I'm just going to use this day to keep myself busy and not think about all this junk for one day. I spotted Elena and Bonnie so I walked over to them. "Do y'all have a job for me?"

"You can put stuffed animals in the booths." Bonnie said.

"Can I have a more intensive job?" I asked her.

"Fine. Elena, what is his name?" She pointed at an attractive guy.

"Carter, I believe." She answered.

"Go help Carter." Bonnie said. So I walked over to him.

"Hi, my name is Crystal Gilbert.'' I introduced myself.

"I'm Carter. Are you the help they sent me?" He questioned looking a little skeptical.

"Don't worry, I'm stronger then I look.'' I smiled at him.

* * *

We finished doing our odd jobs around the carnival when it started. "See you later Carter." I waved goodbye at him and decided to walk around the carnival. I saw Tyler at the arm wrestle booth and decided to go watch. ''Hey, Tyler." I came up to him when he got a break between people. "How many people you beat so far?"

"Just a few." He smirked. ''Who's next?"

"I bet I could beat you." Mason bragged as we walked over. He sat down across from Tyler and they looked at each other. They started and Mason pretty much won immediately.

"Okay, he is a champ, who wants to go next?" Tyler stood up and asked annoyedly

"Stefan wants to go." I headed Damon say before turning to look at him and /br /"Yeah, sure. I'll ... give it a shot." Stefan said as he joined Mason."My brother over there thinks I could beat you." Damon was up to something. He better not harm Tyler or Mason. I glared at him and he just shrugged.

"Your brother's wrong." Mason smirked. They started arm wrestling and they were pretty close for a while, but Mason won. Stefan walked back over to Damon. They left after Mason beat another

I was curious about what was going on. "i'll see you later, Ty." I told him and got up to spy on Damon.

"See ya." He called after me.

* * *

I tried to follow them but was pretty far behind. I go at lost and looked around for a while before a I heard some groaning coming from a hallway in the school. I entered the hallway and saw Damon on the floor. "What happened?"

"Caroline happened." He answered as he got up.

"Caroline happened?" I asked confused. "She is still in the hospital."

"No, she is not. She left the hospital tonight but not alive." He brushed himself off.

"She's a vampire?" My heart dropped. "How? Who killed her?" My head was spinning before it hit me. "Katherine." I growled.

"Bingo." He said as he started walking away.

"Where are you going?" I questioned him.

"Going to find Elena and Stefan." He continued walking so I started following him.

* * *

"Elena." Damon called to her.

She turned around and glared at him. "What do you want, Damon?"

"I know I'm the last person you want to see right now but I need you to come with us." He explained.

"Whatever it is I'm not interested." She brushed him off and turned towards me. "I'm surprised you're with him after what he did to Jeremy."

"Ouch." I said sarcastically. "I'm just here so you know this is actually important."

"Yeah, we need you to come with me right now, Elena." He emphasized, which made her realize something was going on.

* * *

We found Stefan and went into an empty classroom. I sat on top of the desk part of the student desk and put my feet on the seat part of another student desk. "How did this happen?" Stefan asked.

"Well, I fed her blood and Katherine obviously killed her and A plus B equals..." Damon joked.

"But why?" Elena questioned.

"Because Katherine is a manipulative, nasty, little slut." Damon stated.

"And she said "game on"? I mean, what does that even mean?" Stefan inquired.

"It means she's playing dirty. She wants us to know." Damon reasoned.

"But why Caroline?" Elena asked concernedly.

"I don't know." Damon confessed.

"She's our best friend. She wants to get to us." I figured out.

"Caroline must be completely out of her mind, she doesn't even know what's happening to her." Stefan worried about her.

"Oh I think she does." Damon countered. "All of my compulsion from the past started wearing off the minute she was in transition."

"We have to find her." Stefan resolved.

"Yep, and kill her." Damon said, which made me angry.

"You're not gonna kill Caroline." Elena demanded.

"She knows who we are. She's officially a liability, and we've got to get rid of her." Damon continued.

"Damon, absolutely not." Stefan growled.

"Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan? Caroline, of all people, will not make it as a vampire. Her mother is a vampire hunter." Damon tried to explain to us. "Guys come on, we all know how this story's gonna end, just flip to the last chapter and..."

"You don't know that, Damon." I cut him off.

'No?" Damon questioned. "Your silence is deafening, Stefan. Wait, wasn't there a school carnival the night you staked Vicki? I never had a town where history repeats itself. You know I'm right."

"We're not gonna kill her." Stefan repeated to him before leaving the classroom.

Elena started to follow him but Damon interrupted her. "It's the only way." He said before Elena glared at him and left the classroom too.

"I'm guessing them storming off because of you is a normal thing." I commented, which caused him to turn to look at me.

"Don't worry, soon you will start doing the same." He smirked.

"You're pretty good at this pushing people away thing." I snarked. "Definitely will be a long time until Elena forgives you for killing Jeremy."

"He isn't dead." Damon growled. "Plus I don't care if Elena forgives me. Or you to be frank. If you're expecting me to apologize then you are very mistaken."

"I know not to expect an apology from you. I don't know much about you. Only things that Uncle John has told me. I already know you aren't really the apology type nor do I want you to apologize to me. I just wanted to see your reaction to me saying that." I responded before getting up and leaving the classroom.

"Looks like you take a lot after Katherine." He followed behind me as I went outside.

"I may be a little manipulative like her, but I actually care about other people unlike her." I shot back at him, which made him smirk. When, we got to the parking lot I saw Caroline crying and I walked closer. Then, I saw someone lying motionless close to her and then I saw the blood on her mouth. I froze in my tracks and then Damon saw her. He walked up to her and I hid behind a car close enough I could still hear them.

"He's dead, I killed him. What's wrong with me?" She started to cry.

"Hey, hey it's okay. I can help you." Damon comforted her.

"You can?" She asked.

"Yeah, I have to." He answered.

"What are you going to do?" She questioned.

"The only thing I can do, I'm gonna kill you." He said sweetly. My heart started beating about a hundred miles an hour. He can't be serious. I have to stop him. I moved from behind the car to watch them but Caroline didn't notice me.

"Please don't! I don't want to die!" She begged.

"Yeah, but you are already dead." Damon explained.

"No! I'm not. Don't say that okay? Just help me!" She ordered him.

"Okay." He replied and hugged her.

"Okay? Just help me please! Please, please!" She cried into his shoulder.

"Okay, okay. It's the only way." He pulled out a stake and positioned it.

"Damon, no!" I screamed as I ran toward them, but Stefan beat me.

"Stefan!" Damon complained as I ran to Caroline. Bonnie and Elena also got to her at the same time as me.

She looking terrified of Elena and I, and took a few steps back. "Get away from me! One of you killed me!"

"No, no, no, no Caroline! That wasn't me. You know that! That was Katherine." Elena explained.

"Caroline, it's us." I tried to comfort her.

"No! Then, why does she look like you and Chris? And why did she do this to me?" Caroline cried.

"Stefan, we've got to get her inside." Elena told him.

"It's okay Caroline, come with me." Stefan grabbed her hand.

"She'll die, it's only a matter of time." Damon stated.

"Yeah, but it's not gonna happen tonight." Stefan argued.

"Oh yeah it is." He said as he picked up the stake and ran towards Caroline. I saw Elena start to move in front of him, which caused my body to swing into action. I pulled Elena behind me and pushed Damon away using all my strength causing him to fall backwards a few feet.

He seemed a little shocked about how I responded. "Damon, she's my best friend."

He regained his composure and stood up. He brushed himself off and then started walking towards me. "Whatever happens it's on you." He points at me before walking away.

"Caroline?" I heard Bonnie as she walked up to us.

"It's okay, come on." Stefan said trying to lead Caroline toward the bathroom.

"No, you're not. It can't be." Bonnie looked horrified as she touched Caroline and then flinched.

"Bonnie?" Caroline sobbed.

"Oh, god." Bonnie gasped when we saw the body was Carter's.

"Bonnie." Caroline repeated as Stefan started leading her away.

* * *

"I can't believe this is happening." Bonnie said blankly. I heard a noise and turned to see Damon with a shovel in his hands.

"Come on, don't pout about it, I've got a body to bury." He mocked me. "I thought you were calling the shots. No? It sucks for you, buddy." I glared at him then he grabbed his head and fell to the ground. Water started spraying out from a hose so I turned towards Bonnie.

"I told you what would happen if anyone else got hurt." Bonnie warned him.

"I didn't do this." He groaned still holding his hand.

"Bonnie, it wasn't his fault." Elena told Bonnie.

"He was just trying to help, Caroline. This is Katherine's fault." I tried to reason with her.

"Everything is his fault." Bonnie replied.

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Elena asked but Bonnie ignored her. The water all of a sudden caught on fire and started going towards Damon.

"Bonnie, stop it!" I growled at her as the fire started burning him.

"Bonnie, Bonnie, stop it! You're gonna kill him!'' Elena pleaded.

"Bonnie!" I yelled and then recognized the look of determination in her eye. I knew I wasn't going to get through to her. I gathered myself and jumped over the flames separating her from Elena and I. I started shaking her, which caused her concentration to break and the flames to die

"Why ... why did you stop me?" She cried.

Elena walked over to us and hugged Bonnie. "Because this isn't us. This can't be us." I hugged them before Elena and Bonnie started walking away.

I heard Damon groan while standing up and start walking toward me. "Where did that strength come from?" He growled. "You pushed me almost as hard as Caroline did and she is a newly turned vampire."

"Whenever Elena is danger, I can't really control myself and use all my strength to protect her. Nothing special though, just adrenaline." I explained.

"I have seen human adrenaline and that was not it. A muscle builder doesn't even have that much strength during an adrenaline rush." He argued.

"Yeah right." I brushed him off before I started to walk away.

"I'm not lying." He called after me, which caused me to roll my eyes.


	7. Bourbon Makes Things Better

After tonight I really needed a drink so I could just forget everything. I just wanted to have one normal night but that was too much to ask for. I walked into the Mystic Grill and sat down at the bar area. I looked around for Matt, but I didn't see him.

"Hello, I'm David. How may I help you?" A bartender, whom I didn't recognize, asked me. He wasn't Matt or any of the other bartenders I knew, but at least he was around my age. Manipulating him into giving me alcohol shouldn't be that hard.

"One glass of bourbon, please." I pulled out all my flirting techniques, I smiled and batted my eyelashes at him.

"May I see your license?" He replied seeming unfazed by my flirting so far.

"You don't need to see my license." I smirked at him while leaning forward over the counter to expose some of my cleavage. "I assure you that I'm of age." I winked at him.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't serve underage people alcohol. No matter how desperately they try." He snarked at me before walking away. I put my head on the counter feeling dejected and just done with today.

"Why so glum?" I heard Damon's voice come from next to me after I saw a figure sit down next to me.

"The day keeps getting better and better." I picked my head up and grumbled to myself. "Matt's not here and the new bartender won't give me bourbon. Even flirting with him did nothing." I complained to him.

"A woman after my own heart." He commented about my choice of alcohol. "You know. I would happily got you a drink, if you did something for me."

"What could the Damon Salvatore want me to do for him?" I sarcastically joked.

"Well, you can get Elena to stop hating me." He answered which made me start laughing. "Tell her that Jeremy isn't dead and that I already talked to him about it."

"Like that's going to do anything." I quipped.

"If you just put in a good word, I will buy you a whole bottle of bourbon." He tempted me.

"Fine." I gave in. "I will start hinting that you aren't that bad of a person to her."

"See, that wasn't that hard." He waved for David to come back. "She is twenty one years old and we would like a bottle of bourbon and two glasses with ice." Damon compelled David, who came back with the alcohol.

"Looks like someone had a bad day." Damon said as I shot the whole glass of bourbon and then poured in more.

"Shut up! You already know about the day I had." I hissed.

"I'm just stating a fact." He said and took a swig from his glass.

"Yes, Damon, I totally want your opinion right now about how I look after we had a rough two days." I scalded him. "No wonder Elena is always mad at you. After being alive how many years, you still don't know how to talk to women much less other people."

"I think I'm doing really well after spending most my vampire life not caring about anyone else. Granted I still don't care about anyone else that much." He defended himself.

"I barely know you but I can tell you that's not true." I corrected him. "You care about people, especially your brother and Elena, you just don't want to admit it."

He stopped smirking. "I've been looking for a new drinking buddy and I have to say that your audition isn't that good so far. You still have to come back from that though."

"Fine, but if you want me to shut up, pretty soon we are gonna need another bottle of bourbon." I bargained with him. "I'm drinking to get drunk to forget the last two days including what you did."

"Sounds good to me." He waved the waiter back over. "I need another bottle of bourbon and keep them coming." He compelled the bartender.

* * *

We just finished the third shared bottle of bourbon, granted he drank most of the bottles but I was still totally drunk and giggling like crazy. "Dance with me, Damon." I held my hand out.

"Why do you want to dance? There's no music playing." He commented.

"I bet that's never stopped you before." I managed to slur out without it sounding too bad.

"You got me there. I'll dance with you." He smirked.

"Yay!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him off his seat. I put his arms around my waist and my arms around his neck. We gently danced for a little while before I laid my head on his shoulder and suddenly felt tired. "Damon, I feel tired."

"I'll take you home." He smiled.

"I don't want to go home tonight but I have Jenna's car that I have to return back tonight. She would be furious if she found out I was drinking tonight and didn't return the car." I realized my mistakes.

"You can spend the night at the boarding house if you like and I will return Jenna's car." He offered.

"Thank you, Damon." I replied sleepily while still resting my head on his shoulder.

"Let's go." He started lead me towards the car and opened the door for me like a gentleman.

"Thank you." I told him again and yawned.

"You're welcome." He closed my door before he got in and started the car.

* * *

"Crystal, wake up." Damon nudged me awake.

"I'm up." I whined and he chuckled. I got out of the car and saw a huge, beautiful house. "Wow!"

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He asked.

"Very much." I said amazed.

"Wait until you see the inside." He grabbed my hand and lead me into the house. "Stefan?" He called and I heard Stefan behind us.

"Why is Crystal here?" Stefan asked.

"I might have bought her alcohol and have gotten her drunk." Stefan glared at Damon. "I need you to watch her while I drop Jenna's car off at their house."

"I'm right here, Damon." I complained. "The alcohol has almost worn off. I'm just tired now."

"I can't believe how careless you are Damon. Do you even know how this will make Elena..." Stefan stated to say, but Damon cut him off.

"Feel? Yes. She'll be mad at me. Oh wait, she already is. So I don't care, just watch Crystal." Damon remarked.

"Do I have a say in this?" I inquired.

"No. I'll be back later." Damon walked out of the door.

Stefan sighed. "Do you mind if I borrow a book?" I asked him.

"No, knock yourself out." He answered and I walked over to their bookshelves. There were so many books. but one caught my eye. I pulled out The Call of the Wild. I went to find a room to read it in and ended up finding what I believed to be Damon's room. I sat on the bed and started to read the book. This was my second time reading the book since it was one of my favorites. I ended up reading until I feel asleep.


	8. Scooby Gang

I woke up to light streaming through the blinds on the window. At first I didn't remember where I was until the hangover headache hit me then everything that happened came back to me. I sighed and sat up. Yesterday was supposed to be normal but it was anything but. I reached for my cell phone since I didn't have my diary, but I needed to write down what happened.

_Dear Diary,_

_I don't really know how else to start out this entry so I'm just going to say it. Caroline is a vampire. I don't know I feel about that. All I feel is a burning hot hatred for Katherine. She has managed to uproot my life and hurt my family in so many in only three days. I'm just feel sad and angry about what happened, but Caroline is still my best friend. I've never hated vampires like my whole family line has. Being a vampire doesn't make people bad, it just makes it harder to be a good person. Vampires like Stefan are a good example, which is why I'm happy that he is going to help Caroline out. I will help wherever I can since I'm always going to be there for her. _

_Love, _

_Crystal Gilbert_

I heard a knock on the door when I was finishing typing and I looked up to see Damon walking in the room holding a cup. "Did you sleep well in my bed last night?"

"Very well." I bragged.

"It was nice having someone to share a bed with." He smirked.

"Nice try, Damon." I scoffed. "I know you're joking."

"More receptive than your sister." He commented as he walked up to the bed and handed me the cup he was holding.

I investigated the cup and saw that it was coffee. "Did The Damon Salvatore make me coffee?"

"You wish." He joked. "When Elena arrived and realized you were here, she took it upon herself to make you coffee." I frowned when I heard it was Elena who made the coffee. "Don't worry I spiced it a little since Elena's coffee is not strong enough. I tried to tell her that, but she almost threw a knife at me."

I took a sip and instantly felt warm. "Bourbon?"

"Yes, the best hangover cure is more alcohol." He answered.

"I don't know about that but thank you, Damon." I smiled while snuggling back into the bed.

"No, you don't." He said as he took my hand and pulled me to my feet making sure I didn't spill any spiked coffee. "We have a meeting."

"A meeting?" I inquired.

"We are going to ask Alaric about Isobel's research." He replied.

"Research about what?" I wondered.

"Werewolves, vampires, Katherine, doppelgängers, et cetera." He listed.

"Fine." I complained before following him into the living room area. I saw Elena and Stefan sitting on a couch together.

"Someone didn't come home yesterday." Elena nagged as I sat on the couch across from her.

"Thank you for the coffee this morning." I tried to distract Elena, which I could tell by her face wasn't working. "Does Aunt Jenna know?"

"Of course, she knows." Elena scoffed. "She isn't too mad since she has her car, but you better inform us if you're not going to return home."

"Sorry, Elena." I apologized. "I might have gotten a little drunk last night."

"I know that since you butt dialed me." She showed me her phone. "Please don't make me worry for you. You've only been back three days."

"I'm the older sibling. I should be worrying about you." I countered.

"So, I don't forget, here you go." She reached in her pocket and pulled out the keys to my car.

"My car is here?" I happily exclaimed as she handed them to me.

"Yes." She replied. "I had Stefan drive it over."

"Thank you, Stefan. Elena probably would have crashed it." I joked.

"I did not miss all this badgering." She grumbled, which made me laugh.

We heard a knock at the door and Damon went to answer it. "Thanks for coming, Rick." I heard Damon say. "Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee?" They started walking over to the couch.

"You must be Alaric." I said as I stood up and reached my hand out to shake his.

"It's nice to meet you, Crystal." He smiled. "So, Elena mentioned that you needed my help." He sat down on the couch beside me while Damon continued to stand.

"Yeah, we were hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family." Stefan answered, which made Damon acting suspicious yesterday make sense.

"Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwood's?" Alaric asked.

"Well, you wouldn't. But your dead, not dead, vampire wife might." Damon poked.

"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together." Elena clarified.

"You said that she had spent years researching this town." Stefan added.

"Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls rooted in folklore and legends but at the time I thought much of which was fiction." Alaric explained.

"Like that amazing vampire story." Damon mused.

"Aside from vampires, what else?" Elena inquired.

"The lycanthrope." Alaric stated.

My mind stopped for a second. "Wait, like werewolves? The Lockwood's?"

"No way, impossible, way too Lon Chaney." Damon denied.

"Is it?" Stefan questioned him.

"I've been on this planet one hundred and sixty some odd years, never came across one." Damon countered. "If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?"

"Why do you suspect the Lockwoods?" Alaric asked Damon.

"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor at Founder's Day, but the Gilbert devise did and it affected his son, Tyler." Damon reasoned.

"And at the school carnival his Uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought with one of the carnival's workers." Stefan expanded. "It suggests some sort of supernatural entity."

"We were hoping that Isobel's research would help us figure it out what it is." Elena hoped.

"Well, all her things are still at Duke." Alaric mentioned. "I mean her office is still there, she's technically still missing."

"So, can we get access to it?" Alaric didn't answer Damon. "Rick, we need to know what we are dealing with. If this wolf men thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real-life Lon Chaney and that little punk Tyler may just very well be Lon Chaney junior which means Bela Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed."

"Fine." Alaric gave in. "Can we do it today?"

"I can't come since I want to be here to help Caroline adjust." Stefan told us.

"Looks like it's the four of us." Damon mentioned, which made Elena groan. Today was going to be interesting.


	9. Duke University

I had just got done changing my clothes, freshening up, and packing my bag when I looked over at The Call of the Wild, the book I borrowed from the boarding house, that was sitting on my nightstand. "I wonder." I said aloud as I sat down on my bed and opened it to the copyright page. I glanced and the book was indeed a first edition. Looks like a I will be bringing mine on the road trip. I went over to my bookcase, pulled out my copy, and put it in my bag right as Damon honked the car horn.

"Elena and Crystal, are y'all coming?" Aunt Jenna yelled from the living room.

"Coming right down." I answered as I walked out my room and past the lover birds on the stairs. "Bye, Aunt Jenna. Be back soon." I hugged her before heading towards the car.

"I'm afraid that you and I are the only ones excited for this road trip." Damon joked as I got in the backseat behind Alaric.

"Of course, I'm excited to go on a road trip with you and two people who hate you for good reasons to see if my vampire mother's research contains anything about my ex-boyfriend's/best friend's family being werewolves." I retorted as I buckled myself in and started reading my book.

He sighed as Elena and Stefan started walking towards the car. "Sorry you can't come too, Stef." Damon mocked Stefan.

Stefan turned to Elena. "Call me if you need anything." Stefan told Elena before turning towards me. "You too Crystal." I gave him thumbs up.

"Oh, I'll take very good care of them." Damon cockily remarked.

I heard Elena kiss Stefan and looked up to see Damon looking bothered. I sighed before returning to reading my book. Elena got in the car and Alaric started driving.

"This road trip is going to be fun." I joked to myself under my breath, which I could tell Damon heard.

* * *

"How are y'all doing back there." Damon turned around to look at us. I ignored him and kept reading my book. "Elena, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly."

"I don't think she's pretending. You did kill their brother." Alaric stated.

"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement: he came back to life." Damon defended himself.

"Yeah, thanks to a ring you didn't know he was wearing." Elena argued.

"Why are you sure I didn't know?" He asked.

"Did you?" She countered.

"Yes." He answered.

"You're lying." She huffed as she crossed her arms and leaned back into the seat.

"Elena, I saw the ring. It's a big tacky thing, it's hard to miss." He pleaded as Elena ignored him. "How are you?" He turned to me. "Are you mad at me too?"

"I'm not mad at you, but I'm not pleased with you either. Mostly just tired of this bickering." I answered without looking up from my book.

"I see you're reading a Jack London book." He commented. "Is this your first time reading one of his books?"

"No, he is one of my favorite authors and I've read most of his books before including this one. Just thought this one would be a little fitting for today." I flipped to the next page.

"If only we were dealing with feral dogs or normal wolves instead of werewolves." He retorted.

* * *

"So Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomenon is rooted in folklore." Alaric explained as we entered an office area at Duke. "Excuse me, hi. I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier." He said to the woman behind the counter.

"Yes, of course, I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant comparative folklore." She introduced herself before looking skeptically at Elena and I. "Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys."

"These are my friends Elena, Crystal, and Damon. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition." He apologized.

"Oh, please, Isobel's office is right through here." She started leading us. "Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a grad student, she was brilliant and one of the reasons I went into folklore. Uh, I have to ask, has there been any news?" She sadly asked Alaric.

"No, I'm afraid not." He replied.

"It's this way." She walked to the office door and unlocked it. We entered the room. "I'll grab the light, feel free to look around. It's fascinating isn't it?" She left the office and we started looking at Isobel's materials.

"Where did she go?" Damon asked.

"She said she would grab the light." I replied before I heard Elena gasp from beside me. I turned around and saw Vanessa holding a crossbow. She shot an arrow at Elena. The world around me seemed to slow down. My only thought was to protect Elena. I moved in front of her and shielding her from the arrow. I braced myself for the pain but it did not come. I opened my eyes and saw Damon in front of me. His eyes were full of concern and pain then I realized he had taken the arrow in the back for me. Alaric pinned Vanessa to the wall. I looked back at Elena. "Are you alright?" Elena nodded yes.

"Yeah don't mind me. The person who actually got shot." Damon groaned. I turned around and saw him trying to reach the arrow in his back. "Would one of you mind getting this arrow out of my back."

"I'll do it." Elena sighed. She went to pull it but hesitated.

"Pull it out. I can't reach it Elena. Just pull the damn thing out! It hurts." Damon gritted his teeth.

"Let me do it." I told Elena. I gripped the arrow and pulled it out.

"That bitch is dead." He growled.

"You're not gonna kill her." Elena said matter-of-factly.

"Watch me." He stated.

"You touch her and I swear I will never speak to you again." She threatened.

"What makes you think that has any power over me? Because I took an arrow for you? You're severely overestimating me." He warned her.

"Right. I forgot I was speaking to a psychotic mind who snaps and kills people impulsively. Fine, go ahead, do whatever you want." She feigned giving up.

"You're trying to manipulate me." He snapped.

"If by 'manipulate' you mean 'tell the truth', okay, guilty." She left the room. I went to leave but Damon grabbed my arm.

"Why did you move in front of Elena like that? You could have been killed." He warned me.

"Don't you think I know that?" I replied before pulling my arm out of his grasp and walking away.

I saw Elena walking over to Vanessa so I followed her. "I'm Elena Gilbert." She introduced herself and then gestured towards me. "This is my sister Crystal, we're Isobel's daughters and descendants of Katherine Pierce. And this is Damon Salvatore, who you just shot."

"I'd be extra nice to me right now." He smirked.

"Look, we need your help okay? We need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls." She asked Vanessa.

She left and came back with a box. "This box checks Katherine's arrival to Mystic Falls in April of 1864."

"Is this all there is about her?" Elena asked Vanessa.

"All that I'm aware of." Vanessa replied.

"Makes sense." I commented. "She is very elusive."

"Here, take this." Elena handed Vanessa some vervain then looked over towards Damon, who was turned away from us researching.

"Does vervain really work?" Vanessa wondered.

"Nope, not at all." Damon joked.

"Can he hear us?" She asked.

"No, that would be creepy." He answered.

"Can he read minds too?" She inquired.

"You know, if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask." He smirked.

"No one in this room wants to see that." I snarked.

"No, that he can't do. He is very capable of being a first rate jackass." Elena said and Vanessa put the vervain in her pocket.

* * *

"Any luck?" Damon asked after Elena and I looked through the box.

"There's nothing in here about Katherine that we don't already know." Elena sighed.

"Ah, you know, it's a bummer we're not friends anymore because I could tell you what I know." He teased.

"Now who's manipulating who?" Elena countered.

"Hey guys, check this out." Alaric walked over to us.

Vanessa followed with a book in her hands. "There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls but here are some records of some lesser known legends. Everything from Scandinavian skin walkers to Aztec legends." She handed Elena the book. "It translates into the 'Curse of the Sun and the Moon'."

"It's Native American." Alaric explained.

"Aztec." Vanessa corrected him. "It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia. The short story: 600 years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible until an Aztec shaman cursed them, making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon. As a result, vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crests in the sky, who's ever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf."

"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asked her.

"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse." She stated. "Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice: vampires."

"Well, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it." He answered back.

"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive. Hundreds of years ago vampires hunted them almost to extinction." She countered.

"Why would they do that?" Elena horrifiedly asked.

"To protect themselves." Vanessa explained. "Legend has it, a werewolves bite is fatal to the vampires."

"Oh." Elena uttered while everyone looked concerned about this new information.

"Makes sense, the undead always seem the most scared of dying." I wryly commented.

* * *

Elena found a picture of Katherine in another box. "Hey, have you done any research on doppelgängers?" She asked Vanessa.

"Well, the word means a lot of different things to different cultures but typically a doppelgänger is a living, breathing double of oneself." Vanessa explained.

"Did Isobel have anything that explained the link between Katherine, Crystal, and I?" Elena wondered.

"That's all she had on Katherine, unfortunately, but I can tell you that doppelgängers usually torment the people they look like, trying to undue their lives. It's not exactly uplifting." Vanessa said.

"That is definitely true." I confirmed.

"And more things we already know. Just," Elena paused. "I want to know why we look like her."

"Head scratcher, isn't it." Damon teased.

"Do you know something or are you just being yourself?" Elena asked him irritatedly.

"Well, if I know anything, I'm not gonna tell you, not with that attitude." He smirked.

"That's good, Damon and this is coming from someone who wants to be my friend but you know what? Friends don't manipulate friends, they help each other." She said to him.

* * *

We finished looking at Isobel's research. So I was sitting on the curb by the car waiting for Alaric and watching Elena try to open the locked car when Damon walked past me and up to her. "Here. Allow me." He unlocked the car for her. "You're not gonna be able to hate me forever."

"Can we just go?" She pleaded him. I got up from the curb and got in the other backseat.

He gave her a book. "You didn't dig deep enough."

"Petrova." She read the spine of the book. "I saw this on the shelf."

"Katherine originally came from Europe. Petrova was her real name. Katerina Petrova, to be exact." He told her.

"How do you know that?" She asked.

"Back when, I saw it engraved on an old heirloom. Men snoop too, you know. Let me know what you find, I'm very curious myself." She tried to open the car door but he stopped her. " You have every right to hate me, I understand but you hated me before and we became friends. It would suck if that was gone forever. So, is it? Have I lost you forever?"

"Thank you for the book, Damon." She got into the car.

* * *

When we finally arrived home, I went straight into my room. I couldn't deal with more arguing between Damon and Elena. All I wanted to do was go to sleep and forget about the road trip. I was getting ready for bed when I heard Damon come in through my window behind me. "You done arguing with Elena?"

"No, but that's not why I came to talk to you." He answered.

"I don't want to talk about what happened today." I turned to look at him.

He walked closer to me. "You could have been killed today." He repeated himself from earlier.

"As I said, don't you think I know that? I have to protect my sister." I tried to walk past him but he grabbed my arm. "Damon, let go of me."

"I care about both of you. You don't have to sacrifice your life for your sister's life. I can protect both of you." He tried to comfort me.

"I can't help but protect her!" I burst out from annoyance, which startled him for a second before his eyes softened. I calmed myself before continuing. "Every time she is in danger the only thing I can think about is protecting her. Everything around me slows down and my body seems to move on it's own. Besides I love my sister and I would do anything to protect her even if that didn't happen."

"Just please trust that I can protect her too and don't just blindly jump in front of every danger coming you and your sister's way. I don't want to lose her or _you_." He emphasized with sad, pleading eyes, which made my stomach knot and my heart skip a beat, before he disappearing out the window.

I sighed before I finished getting ready for bed and got in. He seemed so understanding but also sad when I admitted to having the urge to protect Elena. I could tell that he understands this sentiment since he is also an older sibling but he also doesn't want me to be harmed. Looks like he does have more layers to him other than just being an a-hole. I'm going to have to fulfill my part of the deal and talk to Elena for him. It's not going to be fun but he deserves it for protecting us. I better not be falling for the Damon Salvatore. I thought to myself before falling asleep.


	10. You Have to Buy Me a Corsage

_Dear Diary,_

_I can't get what Damon said yesterday out of my head. He seemed so scared and frightened. His eyes were so pleading, like he was begging me not to put myself into harms way but knowing I can't stop myself. No one has ever looked at me this way. No one has ever looked so concerned about my well being. It made my heart stop and my stomach churn. I think I'm starting to fall for him. I could stand his flirtations because he did that with every woman. I don't believe he's looked at many women with those eyes. The sad thing is that he's used those eyes at the women who look just like me. Am I just replacement for Katherine or my sister? Is he only coming to me because Elena is shunning him. Are his feelings for me real? _

_Love,_

_Crystal Gilbert_

I sighed as I put down my diary down on my bedside table. I got out of bed and looked outside my window at the trees that are starting to bud and grow leaves. I need to talk to Elena.

I walked down stairs and saw Aunt Jenna burning some toast. "Good morning" I chuckled.

"Good morning." She huffed as she went over to the trash to start scrapping off the burned parts since she seemed determined to make this work.

"You can just make another piece of toast." I suggested to her.

She put the scrapped piece of toast on a plate. "I'm just a little frazzled and stressed about the barbecue I'm hosting today."

"I can always help you Aunt Jenna." I offered. "I'm not the best at cooking either but I think if we out our skills together we can whip up something nice."

She came over to hug me. "Thank you, Cris."

"Do you know where Elena is? I want to talk to her." I asked her.

"I believe" She thought for a second then answered. "she is at the grill."

"I will visit the Grill then be back to help, if that's alright?" I informed her.

"Sounds great." She smiled. "Thank you again."

"Anything to help." I commented before going to my room to get ready for the day and leaving for the Mystic Grill.

* * *

I spotted Elena sitting at the bar. "Hey, Elena." I went and sat down beside her.

"You're up early." She said impressed.

"I'm surprised too." The waiter walked up. "Can I have a black coffee, please?" The waiter nodded yes and brought me a coffee mug.

"Did you come to the Grill to just get coffee? You know I already made some for you at the house?" She asked which made me grimace thinking about the awful coffee she made last time.

"I came here because I asked Aunt Jenna where you were and she told me you were probably here. I wanted to talk to you again Damon." I explained.

She signed exasperatedly. "I don't want to talk about him. Especially not with you since you're being too easy with him."

"You know that I'm also very mad at him for what he did and I'm not going to fully forgive him, right?" I questioned her.

"It doesn't seem that way." She argued.

"He did something awful, but he did that because Katherine got into his head. She is the real enemy." I tried to reason with her. "She is the one orchestrating all these events. She knew how to set him off to make him do something awful that would make us separate from him." I looked over at her and her head was down. "Plus Jeremy has pretty much forgiven him so if Jeremy is not mad anymore than we shouldn't be either."

"I can't just forgive him. You haven't seen the terrible things he can do." She looked up at me.

"I know that, but I've also seen the good things he can do. I'm not giving up on him yet." I admitted. "I just want you to see where I'm coming from so we can be alright again since I know you've been mad at me."

She looked guilty. "I don't agree with you but I love you and I see where you're coming from. I'll stop being rude to you."

I hugged her. "Thank you, sis."

We let go and I took a sip of my coffee when I heard Elena slightly gasp and then say something to someone. "What do you want?" I turned to see who she was talking to and saw Damon sitting at the table with us.

"So, this is where you spend your time when you're not stabbing people in the back." He jabbed at her before looking at me.

"I tricked you into telling me the truth, that's not stabbing you in the back, it's using your own tactics against you." Elena said and got up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked.

"I made myself clear, Damon. I want nothing to do with you." She demanded before getting up to leave.

"Okay. See you at Jenna's barbecue." He clapped back.

"How did you know about Jenna's barbecue?" She asked

"It was my idea. Jenna went to high school with Mason Lockwood so I figured a social gathering would be a good way to get to know the guy. So I told Ric to tell Jenna and ..." He explained, but Elena interrupted him.

"Does Jenna know that you're gonna be there because she'd not exactly a fan of yours." She mocked him as a waitress came over to our table and handed Damon a box.

"Perfect. Thank you." He smiled at the waitress and said, "I'm hoping this peach cobbler will pave the way." He gestured towards the box.

"What are you up to?" She questioned him suspiciously.

"I'm gonna put some silver into Mason Lockwood and prove he is a werewolf." He answered.

"Like that's going to work." She said sarcastically before turning around and leaving.

He turned toward me. "Do you think it's going to work?"

"Aunt Jenna isn't even going to let you inside to see if it works." I commented. "She is already stressed about this barbecue and you showing up uninvited won't help."

"Then bring me as your date." He suggested.

"I don't want Aunt Jenna to be mad at me plus I don't know what you plan to do with Mason if you find out he's a werewolf. He's my best friend's uncle so I don't want him to get hurt." I frowned.

"We just need to find out if he's a werewolf and then we can decide what we should do from there. Will you help me?" He asked.

"Fine" I huffed. "But you can't hurt him."

"Alright" He answered.

"And you have to arrive on time." I continued.

"Alright." He repeated.

"And you have to be dressed nice." I added.

"Alright." He said aggressively starting to get annoyed.

"And you have to buy me a corsage." I joked with a serious voice.

"Really?" He chuckled.

"And it better match my outfit." I smirked before leaving to go help Aunt Jenna get ready.


	11. Barbecue

I was just getting done setting up the dining table while Elena was in the kitchen talking to Aunt Jenna. "Thanks for letting me invite Caroline. She could use a day of distraction."

"Well, she's not the plus one I'm worried about." Jenna looked at me. "Why is Damon coming? Did he guilt you into inviting him?"

"Alaric already invited him, but I told him if he showed up alone then you wouldn't let him in. He suggested that I bring him as a date. I agreed so he can owe me a favor." I explained to her as I walked over to them.

"Come on Jenna, be nice." Elena begged her which made me look at her confused.

"I'll be nice when Damon learns to keep his paws off you too." Jenna clarified.

Mason entered the house looking triumphant. "Good news! I found the shot glasses!"

"That would be my exit." Elena got up and left the kitchen.

I went to grab a shot glass, but Jenna moved them away from me. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked me like I was crazy.

"Grabbing a shot glass." I answered her.

"Nope. John let you drink, didn't he?" She questioned.

"He didn't say I could, but he also didn't stop me." I explained.

"I'm sadly not the cool aunt anymore. Go wait for Caroline with Elena, I'll tell y'all when the food is ready." She shooed me away.

"Fine." I grumbled before finding Elena on the porch sitting in a chair,

"Did Jenna kick you out?" Elena smiled.

"Yes." I huffed as I plopped down on the chair next to her. I looked over and saw Elena typing on her phone.

I heard Damon's car pull up. He came out of his car carrying the cobbler. "You care to escort me in, date?"

"I have been banished outside since the adults are drinking so I can't." I informed him. "Can you sneak me some alcohol?"

"I'm trying to get Jenna to like me, remember?" He smirked then walked inside.

"Traitor." I said under my breath knowing he'd hear me.

"Hey. Just checking in. Did you get my message about Jenna's barbecue? Call me when you can." Elena left a message over the phone.

"Is that Stefan?" Carolina walked up to us holding a bag of chips and sat in the chair on the other side of Elena.

"Yeah, he hasn't called me back. I'm trying to decide if I should be worried." Elena confessed.

"I'm sure he's fine." Caroline took a bite of a chip. "God! I cannot stop eating. Stefan says it's a great way to sublimate the cravings. It's horrible just fighting the urge for blood every minute of every day."

"I know that Stefan really hates that part of himself." Elena noted.

"Yeah and he hates that you're a constant temptation." Caroline told her which made me look at her so she knew she shouldn't have said that. She ignored me.

"He said that?" Elena asked sadly.

"The desire to rip out your jugular every time he's with you. Trust me, it's there." She answered with any care in her voice. "It's why I had to break up with Matt."

"Caroline." I scolded her.

"What? It's true." She defended herself.

"Hey! Food's ready, come get it." Alaric peeked his head out to tell us.

"Finally, I'm starving." She exclaimed before going inside. I rubbed Elena's shoulder as she went inside. I don't know what Caroline is up to, but something is not right.


	12. Katherine

"Dress! Ballerina!" Aunt Jenna guessed at Damon's awfully bad drawing.

_Dances with Wolves_, I thought to myself. He had already done White Wolf, An American Werewolf in London, Call of the Wild, and Underworld.

"Puppy! Puppy with a tutu!" Caroline excitedly exclaimed.

"No, no." Damon shook his head.

"A dog! Hound-dog!" Aunt Jenna tried guessing again.

"Dances with the wolves." Mason answered right for the fifth time.

"Mason wins ... again." Damon smirked.

"How is that a wolf?" Aunt Jenna joked.

"It looks more like a ..." I started to say, but I paused to look at it again. I knew what it was, but it didn't look like a wolf. "I don't even know what it looks more like."

"Thank you, Crystal." Damon said sarcastically so I smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. He got up to go to the kitchen to talk to Elena and motioned for me to come follow. Aunt Jenna noticed and gave me a look of concern. I motioned for her to calm down and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Aunt Jenna is getting tipsy." Damon said with a smug look.

"Will you stop supplying her with alcohol?" Elena demanded.

"I want her to like me." Damon countered.

"Getting her drunk isn't going to help." I scoffed.

"How is operation Lockwood?" Elena asked.

"He's my new BFF." Damon said which made me chuckle.

"I highly doubt that." I snarked as Jenna joined us.

"There you are. Isn't this fun?" Jenna asked us.

"Yes, thank you so much for inviting me." Damon thanked her.

"Did I have a choice?" She questioned.

"I know what you must think about me." He started.

"No, you don't." She cut him off. "You've never dated you. I've dated many yous."

"I'm a work in progress." He smirked as Elena gave Jenna a cake knife for the pie. "These are fancy."

"Thanks. My mother's silver set." Jenna told Damon. He then toke a knife from the set behind Aunt Jenna's back when she turned around.

* * *

"Mason, why don't you start us off?" Damon put the cobbler, with the silver cake knife, in front of Mason.

"Sure." Mason turned the cobbler, so the knife was on the opposite side and grabbed a piece with his hands. "I'm apologize, I'm an animal." He smirked.

"So Mason, you and Jenna never dated?" Alaric asked.

"She was always lost in Logan Fell land." Mason joked.

"My first mistake." Aunt Jenna sighed. "Mason was a catch; he had girls lining up."

"Really?" Damon questioned. " I always pegged you as a lone wolf."

"I'm sure I wasn't half the lady killer you were. How about a toast? To new friends." Mason rose a glass. So, they toasted, and I went to join Elena and Caroline in the living room.

"Would I be the worst friend and sister in the world if I abandoned y'all and went to Stefan's?" Elena asked and I was about to say no, but Caroline beat me.

"You want to leave?" Caroline whined in shock.

"It's just that he hasn't gotten back to me and I'm starting to get this bad feeling." Elena answered.

''I don't think it's a good idea, Elena." Caroline tried to dissuade her.

''Damon's got it under control here." Elena said.

"I would be here to hold the fort down so she can go." I attempted to comfort her.

"Take it from me, there's nothing worse than a clingy girlfriend." Caroline said accusingly.

"Caroline." I scolded her again. She turned to look at me and I could tell there was something wrong. Her eyes were pleading me to play along as if something bad would happen if I didn't.

"I'm not being clingy, I'm just concerned. You understand, right?" Elena begged her to understand.

''How about I drive you?" Caroline compromised with her.

"Yeah, okay, that'll be great, thanks. You can handle being without us?'' Elena asked me.

"Yeah, go check on Stef. I'll be fine." I encouraged her on despite being worried since Caroline was acting off. I knew that Caroline would never let anything to happen to her though, so I let them go.

"Time for Guitar Hero." I heard Aunt Jenna say.

"No more takers for drinks at the grill? It's like I am with a bunch of adults here." Mason smirked.

"I prefer the term 'Role model.' " Aunt Jenna corrected him.

"Okay. Well, thanks for having me, it was awesome. Alaric, catch that game next week?" Mason asked.

"Yeah, I look forward to it." Alaric smiled.

"You know, I should probably head out too." Damon gathered his things to leave. "Jenna, you are a wonderful hostess." He kissed Jenna's hand.

"And you are a terrible artist." Jenna joked.

"Is that the only thing that makes me terrible?" Damon asked.

"I'm still deciding." Jenna said.

"Good enough for me." Damon smiled. "Alaric let's not catch that game next week.''

"That was fun, Aunt Jenna. I'm going to bed. Goodnight." I retried to my room.

* * *

I started to get ready for bed, but I couldn't stop thinking about Elena. Lying in bed waiting wouldn't help anything so I decided to go to the Mystic Grill. I knew I couldn't just walk out the front door since Aunt Jenna was awake, so I opened my window to sneak out. I looked at the tree outside my window and remembered all the times I used it to go spend the night with Tyler at the Lockwood's estate. I sighed thinking about the easier times. I pushed those to the back of my mind then stepped into the tree and climbed down. I looked up at my window then started walking towards the Grill.

I walked in and sat at the bar. Luckily, the bartender that Damon compelled was here, so I ordered myself a glass of whiskey. I took out my phone to check my phone for a message from Elena. I sighed when I found nothing, so I texted her. I asked her to call me when she arrived home. I put my phone in my pocket and took a sip from my drink.

"Aren't you too young to be drinking?" I heard a voice that sounded like Elena's coming from behind me, but this voice had a dark, condescending edge to it unlike Elena's gentle, comforting one.

My body seized with anger and my grip tightened around my drink. "Katherine." I growled.

She giggled and sat down next to me. "You must be Crystal, the other doppelgänger." She smirked while looking me up and down. "The one that the Salvatores surprising aren't fighting over despite the fact that you look and act more like me than the other one does. If you had been here when they arrived then they would be kneeling at your feet instead of hers."

My stomach churned when she likened the two of us, but I pushed that to the back of my head. "What do you want, Katherine?"

"Careful not to call me by that name too loudly. Don't want to confuse the locals." She snarked ignored my question.

"What do you want?" I repeated through gritted teeth.

"Just thought I would introduce myself." She answered before grinning. "It's only fair since I already ran into Elena today."

I couldn't control my anger after she said that. I clenched my hands so hard I heard a breaking sound come from my hand that used to hold my drink. I felt the shards of glass prick my skin, but I was too angry that I couldn't feel any of the pain. "What did you do to Elena?" I pointed a bleeding finger at her.

She just smiled unfazed by the scent of my blood. "Nothing, for now."

"What are you planning, Katherine." I glared at her.

"You'll see." She warned as she got up to leave. "You're definitely going to be more fun to mess with than the other one." She taunted me before she walked away.

After she left, I could barely control myself. All I could think about was what I would do to her if she even caused the smallest amount of pain to come to Elena. My body convulsed with anger so much that my body was shaking, and I was having trouble catching my breath. I had to keep reminding myself that she said Elena was currently safe. That started to calm me down. I looked at my gored hand and slowly felt the pain creeping up. It had a lot of tiny shards of glass but no cuts that would require stitches. I dusted the loose glass off my hand before wrapping it in a napkin so I could take the glass out of my hand at home. I placed enough money on the bar to cover the drink, tip, and glassware then I left to start walking home.

When I was almost home, I felt a buzz and checked my phone. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was text from Elena. She made it back home safely, but she wanted to talk to me in the morning. I sat down on a bench on our street and looked up at the stars. Today had been a long day and tomorrow doesn't look promising either.


	13. The MFHS Volunteer Day

I was cleaning up the cuts on my hand in the bathroom the next morning when Elena came in. "I need to talk to you. I have some major news. I saw ..." She trailed off when she noticed my hand. "What happened?" She had a concerned look and walked over to inspect my wound.

"Katherine happened." I answered with a sigh.

"Katherine?" She asked in shock. "Did she hurt you?"

I looked down and shook my head. "I did this when she told me that she saw you yesterday."

"Chris." Elena softly said before putting her hand under my chin and making me look her in the eyes. "Don't worry, she didn't hurt me."

"Elena, she threatened you." My heart started pounding, my hands started shaking, and my breathing became heavy. "I asked her if she did anything to you and she told me that she hasn't yet." I gasped as tears started to roll down my face.

Elena pulled me into her arms. "It's alright, Chris. She isn't going to hurt us. Stefan and Damon won't let her. We'll stop her."

"I hate her, Elena. She has already hurt people I care about. She almost killed Uncle John and she turned Caroline into a vampire." My panic started to turn into anger. "Now she is threatening you. I hate her. I want her dead." I felt myself start to be consumed by anger. I clenched my fists so hard that I felt my wound reopen and start bleeding.

Elena pulled away from me with a shocked expression and noticed my hands. "Chris!" She exclaimed as she unfurled my hands and examined them. "We'll stop her. She won't hurt anyone else."

"She's using Caroline to spy on us. She knows everything. How can we stop her?" I cried.

Elena sighed. "I don't know, but we will. We'll figure something out. I promise." She gently squeezed my arms. I looked up at her and she smiled at me comfortingly, which made me start to calm down. "Now let me look at your hand so I can bandage it up."

"Was Stefan there when ..." I paused to swallow so I could calm myself and not get emotional again.

"Yes." Elena answered as she started cleaning my wound. "She was at the boarding house with him all day. He thought he was interrogating her, but she was interrogating him. That's why Caroline was trying to keep me from talking to him."

"She also kept talking about her and Matt breaking up." I added. "Was Caroline trying to break you guys up?"

"Yes." Elena started tearing up while wrapping my hand. "It worked. Katherine started threatening the people I love so we decided it was best to break up." She wiped her tears after she got finished with my hand.

"Elena, I'm so sorry." I hugged her as I felt a pit in my stomach.

"It's alright." She pulled away and smiled. "At least we have the volunteer day to distract us from all this craziness. We should get ready." She left to get clothes from her room.

_Looks like another reason to kill Katherine has been added to the list_, I thought before I went to get dressed.

* * *

"I can't believe Tyler Lockwood is a werewolf." Jeremy said as he stood outside of the bathroom while Elena was putting on some makeup and I was curling the ends of my ponytail.

"It explains the mood swings that he started to have after I left." I reasoned since I was shocked to hear how Tyler treated Jeremy when I was living with Uncle John.

"We're not sure about that yet." Elena interjected. "The only thing we know for sure is that Mason Lockwood is."

"Both Tyler and Mayor Lockwood were affected by the Gilbert device though, right?" I asked to clarify.

"Chris is right so it should be easy enough for us to figure out." Jeremy said with confidence.

"There is no us." Elena corrected him. "I said that I wouldn't keep things from you anymore. That doesn't mean that I want you involved in it."

"By definition of being in this family, I'm involved." Jeremy argued.

"This is dangerous, Jeremy." Elena pleaded. "You have to stay out of it, okay?"

"Alright. Just saying." Jeremy left sounding defeated.

"Elena, Jeremy is right. He is in this family, which puts him in danger. We can't keep him out of this forever." I explained to her.

"I know." Elena sighed. "I just want to keep him out as long as possible. Our life is dangerous, and I want to protect him."

"I also want to protect him, but this is not the way to do it." I told her before unplugging my curling iron and leaving the bathroom to get ready for the day.

* * *

"This is all part of the Historical Society's continuing effort to give back to the community." Carol Lockwood said to all the volunteers. "Thanks to the generous donation to the Fell family. We are now standing on the sight of our newest public park. Thank you to everyone who has shown up today to lend a helping hand."

"So suddenly, she's in the running for mother of the year just when I'm trying to avoid her the most." Caroline started saying while we were painting a veranda, but Elena was distracted. "I'm blabbing, y'all don't want to hear this."

"Of course, we want to hear it, Care." I reassured her.

"Sorry." Elena apologized. "Then what happened?"

"Well, I was a bitch which is part of the course with us." Caroline explained and then turned to Elena. "So, how are things with you and Stefan? Anything?"

"No, not since the fight." Elena sighed. "He's been pushing me away because he thinks that Katherine might get jealous enough to hurt me. I just don't know how to change his mind."

"You said that Katherine's dangerous. Maybe he's got a point." Caroline tried to reason with her.

"Yeah, I know that she's dangerous and I know that he's just trying to protect me, but it feels like giving up and I just ..." Elena trailed off.

"Just what?" Caroline asked.

"I just thought that we were stronger than that." Elena said defeated.

"You guys are stronger than this. We just have to wait all of this out." I tried to comfort Elena. "Things will return to normal eventually." I paused for a second. "Well, it'll return to our normal"

We got back to work but Elena and Stefan eventually met glances, which Caroline noticed. "Oh, no. Longing looks are being exchanged."

"I'm just going to go talk to him." Elena got up to leave.

"No, Elena. I think it's a bad idea." Caroline tried to protest, but Elena ignored her and walked over to Stefan anyway.

"This might help them out." I said optimistically to Caroline.

"What's her problem?" Damon approached us.

"Don't worry about it." Caroline answered.

"Why are you being such a bitch to your mom?" He asked Caroline.

"Don't worry about it." She repeated harshly before ignoring him when Elena and Stefan start talking. They eventually turned to look at us, which made Damon and Caroline pretend not to be listening.

_Stupid vampire hearing_, I thought. I couldn't hear them, but I watched as Elena and Stefan argued and I felt the pit in my stomach get bigger as Elena walked away from Stefan.

"Relationships are about communication." Damon commented with a smirk, which made Caroline scoff and walk away.

I glared at him. "Not the time." I walked away to find Caroline and Elena.

* * *

"No, I'm not." I heard Caroline say when I found them. "I'm not being a good friend at all." She said sadly before noticing her mom. "Is she leaving? Where is my mom going?" She left to go talk to her mom.

I walked over to Elena. "Is everything alright?"

Elena shrugged as we watched Caroline and her mom talk. "I'm not sure." We waited until Liz left and then approached Caroline. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. Something's up." Caroline started following her mother, so we tagged along.

"Where are you going? What's going on?" Elena questioned Caroline.

"I need to be able to hear better." Caroline answered.

"Hear what?" Elena asked.

"Who is Liz talking to?" I added.

"Something's wrong." Caroline repeated.

"Caroline ..." Elena started to say but was cut off by Caroline shushing her.

"Oh god." Caroline breathed.

"What's wrong?" I inquired.

"Stefan and Damon." Caroline responded.

"What?" Elena panicked as my heart started to beat faster as Caroline started walking into the woods. We followed suit until she stopped. "What is it?"

"They've been here." Caroline bent down and touched a leaf that appeared to have blood on it.

"Blood." Elena's voice had more panic in it, but I couldn't blame her since my heart was starting to beat even harder.

"What are y'all going out here?" I heard some branches snap and turned to see Mason. I would've normally felt safe with him here, but it made me feel uneasy knowing that he's a werewolf that Damon has pissed off.

"Have you seen Stefan?" Elena questioned him.

"Yeah, Elena, I've seen him." Mason paused. "Seen Damon too."

_How dare he harm both of them. Damon was the only one that threatened him_, I thought as I tightened my unbandaged hand into a fist. "Where are they?"

"You don't need me for that. I'll let your friend here sniff them out." He turned towards Caroline. "Does your mother know what you are? I'm happy to tell her." Caroline took a step forwards, but he grabbed Elena and wrapped his arms around her neck. "Don't be stupid. Necks snap easy around here." My body almost shot into action, but I managed to calm myself down before I made the situation worse.

"I can take you." Caroline threatened.

"Wanna bet?" Mason smirked.

"Yeah, I do." Caroline rushed over and pulled him off Elena before pushing him against a tree and choking him. I went over to Elena to help her up. "I told you." She mocked him then kicked him in the balls, which made him fall to the ground and then kicked him in the stomach so hard he was flung against a tree and fell back to the ground. She moved some hair out of her face and caught her breath. "Come on." She started walking again so we followed until we arrived at some ruins.

"What is that?" Elena asked but Caroline was focused on listening. "Caroline. Caroline, what is it?"

"My mom." Caroline moved her hand from her mouth to her chest. "She's killing them."

"What?" Elena said in shock before she tried to enter the ruins, but Caroline caught her arm.

"No, no, no, no. Elena, please." Caroline begged.

"We have to stop her!" Elena demanded.

"No, I can't." Caroline pleaded. "Elena, she's going to find out about me." Caroline tried to stop Elena, but she enters the ruins. "Elena!"

"Shit." I said before rushing down to follow Elena.

Elena opened a metal door, which made a creaking sound. "Check it out." I heard Liz say before a deputy appeared and opened the door in front of us. I grabbed the nearest thing and hit him with it then continued down until we hit the main area. We stopped when we saw Liz pointing a gun at us. I moved so I was in front of Elena. My chest tightened when I saw Damon and Stefan laying on the ground with gunshot wounds all over their bodies. "Elena, Crystal, what are you guys doing?"

"You can't kill them. I'm not going to let you." Elena said before we were pushed into the cell by the deputy that I hit who then pointed his gun at us. The door behind us closed.

"Who else is with you?" Liz asked before Caroline sped by too fast to see.

"What is that?" The deputy moved his gun away from us. Caroline rushed towards him and bit down on his neck. The other deputy started shooting at her, but she used the one that she bit as a target. When the deputy stopped shooting, she knocked his gun out of his hand and then pushed him down.

Caroline hid in the shadows while she regained her breath. Her face changed back to normal and she stepped out of the shadows. "Hi, mom."

* * *

I was relieved when Damon and Stefan finally woke up. Elena was currently caring for Stefan and Damon was feeding off one of the deputies. I looked over at Caroline and Liz, who were sitting around awkwardly and not speaking to each other.

Damon moved over to Stefan. "You need to drink some deputy blood."

"No, I'm going to be fine." Stefan declined. "It's just going to take a little bit longer."

"Damon's right you know. If there's ever a time to break your diet ..." Caroline started to say.

Elena cut her off. "He said he didn't want it, okay?"

Damon stood up despite some struggle. "This is a most unfortunate situation. Two deputies dead ..." Damon turned his attention toward Liz. "and you. What am I going to do with you?"

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Caroline asked Liz, who looked at her then turned away. "Mom? Please. Look, I know that we don't get along and that you hate me, but I'm your daughter and you'll do this for me, right?" Liz didn't say anything. "Mom, please. He will kill you."

Liz looked up at Damon. "Then kill me."

"No!" Caroline exclaimed.

"I can't take this." Liz sobbed. "Kill me now."

Damon leaned down close to Liz. "But you were going to drag it out so painfully." He grabbed her and pulled her to her feet.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Caroline shouted as she sprang to her feet.

"Damon, don't!" Stefan warned him.

"Damon, please!" Elena pleaded.

_Come on, Damon, _I thought as my stomach tightened.

"Relax, guys. No one is killing anyone." Damon smirked before looking at Liz. "You're my friend." He looked over at the deputies. "We've got to clean this up."

_Good job, Damon_, I thought as I met eyes with Damon and smiled.


	14. A Welcome Distraction

Elena and I were sitting on the couch at the boarding house when we heard a knock on the door. I walked over and opened the door. "Hey, sorry that took forever." Caroline sadly smiled before walking into the living room with a suitcase. "I just didn't know how long my mom was gonna be here."

"Damon says it'll take three days tops' for the vervain to leave her system. Maybe even sooner." Elena placed her hand on Caroline's arm trying to comfort her. We started walking towards the cellar, where Caroline's mom was staying for the next few days.

"Hey!" Caroline greeted Stefan as he walked over to us.

"Hey." Stefan responded back.

"You got some bunny in you?" Caroline turned to ask Stefan.

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better, thank you." Stefan answered.

We were almost at the cellar when we heard Liz say. "Keep Caroline away from me please. I don't want to see her." Caroline froze before entering the room.

"She's your daughter, Liz." Damon tried to reason with her.

"Not anymore." Liz paused. "My daughter's gone."

"You have no idea how wrong you are about that." Damon responded before looking at Caroline. She set down the suitcase and went upstairs.

Elena turned to start following her. "You stay here. I got this." I assured Elena before going upstairs to comfort Caroline.

I saw her sitting on the couch with her arms crossed and tears in her eyes. "Would you like me to drive you home?"

Caroline shook her head and sniffled. "I can't go home."

"What's wrong, Care?" I sat down across from her.

"I'm scared." Caroline admitted.

"What are you scared of?" I placed a reassuring hand on her knee. "I'm always here for you, Care. You can tell me anything."

Caroline sighed. "Katherine's gonna be there and she's gonna want me to tell her what happened today. She told me I had to spy on you and Elena, and report back to her."

"We figured that out." Caroline looked surprised when I told her that. "I just didn't know why you would betray us. Elena and I are your good friends and Stefan has helped you out during this touch time." I squeezed her knee when she looked down in shame. "I do know that you wouldn't do this unless you were forced to by Katherine. Her specialty is threatening people so who did she threaten?"

"Matt." She sobbed. "She threatened Matt," Caroline paused to catch her breath and I moved over to the couch to be closer to her. "and I'm so scared of her, Crystal. I am so scared of her."

"I know, Caroline. We all should be scared of her." I admitted. "We don't know what she's capable of."

"Why is she doing this? What does she want?" Caroline asked.

"I have no idea." Caroline cuddled into me and I wrapped my arms around her. "I promise that I will try my best to stop her and protect all of our friends."

* * *

Caroline was asleep on couch and I was laying down on the couch opposite of her. She decided to stay at the boarding house, so I wanted to stay with her. I was trying to fall asleep when I heard Elena. "Caroline and Crystal are sleeping on the couch."

"I heard," Damon said. "and you?"

"I'm going home." She answered then paused for a moment. "What you did for Caroline's mom, that's the Damon who was my friend." I heard her open the door to leave.

"Hey," Damon stopped her. "Stefan didn't drink the people blood, if you were curious, but he needs to and deep down you know that." I heard Damon walk away then Elena closed the door before going to find Stefan.

* * *

I was pacing around the room trying to be quiet, so I didn't wake Caroline. I couldn't sleep because every time I tried to settle down for the night I kept thinking about the unsolved problems and started getting anxious. All I could think about was Katherine and Mason and what they could possibly want. Why was Katherine controlling Caroline by threatening Matt? I'm upset about Damon and Stefan almost getting killed, but Damon did try to kill Mason. I just wonder if Mason is up to something. He says he's here to support Tyler, but then why is he talking with the Founder's Council and trying to get Damon kicked out? Too many questions and too few answers.

I heard footsteps come from behind me. "Couldn't sleep?" I turned around to see Damon and shook my head no. "Follow me. There are plenty of rooms you can sleep in." He motioned me to follow him, so I did. He stopped when he was in front of his room. "If you couldn't get comfortable then you can sleep in any of these rooms." He pointed out the rooms surrounding his.

"It's not that." I sighed. "I just couldn't stop thinking about what happened today. Caroline's mom found out that her daughter's a vampire, I found out that Katherine is controlling Caroline by threatening Matt, the fact that Katherine threatened Elena while talking to me yesterday and," I paused for a moment. "Mason almost got you and Stefan killed."

"It's gonna take more than a dumb dog to kill me." He smirked.

"I just can't keep up with all the things that keep happening. I've barely been able to sleep for days because I can't quiet my head down." I confessed.

"How much sleep have you been getting?" He asked.

"Maybe two hours a night." I answered.

"I haven't been a human in years, but I don't think that's anywhere near the recommended amount of sleep." He said sarcastically. "Is there any way I can help?"

"I just need a break. Everyday there is another a problem which just stacks on top of the last. First, Katherine decides to show herself and almost kills Uncle John which brings me to town, then the next day she turns Caroline into a vampire, then we have to deal with a newly transitioned Caroline at the carnival, then Katherine introduces herself to Elena and me separately and threatens Elena," I paused to catch my breath since I was starting to hyperventilate. "then we find out that Mason is a werewolf and he retaliates for you trying to kill him by trying to kill you and Stefan, and now we know that Katherine is using Caroline to spy on us." My body started to shake as I felt my legs started to feel numb.

He must've noticed it too since he put his hands on my shoulders. "Hey." He tried to get my attention, but I was too far inside my own mind.

"I keep replaying everything in my head since I have no answers as to why any of this is happening but replaying everything makes me feel constantly anxious. I'm just so worried that something bad will happen. I don't want anyone to get hurt, especially Elena." Tears started to well up. "Katherine has access to the house and I don't want anything to happen to Elena. She is my younger sister and I would feel responsible for her getting hurt. Especially now since I'm not there to protect her." I felt my muscles contract as some tears spilled out. "I just need something to distract myself from the constant stressing and worrying and overthinking. I just need," An idea popped into my head. "this." I wrapped my hands around the base of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. When my lips met his, my mind finally seemed to slow down after days of operating at full capacity. The only thing on my mind was how surprisingly soft his lips were.

He tenderly kissed me back for a moment before pulling away. "What are you doing?"

"I'm distracting myself." I pulled him back into a kiss.

He kissed back again with a little more emotion before pulling away, which seemed harder for him to do this time. "While this is a welcome distraction." He smirked. "Aren't you worried what Elena and others would think? Elena is starting to trust me again and 'kissing her sister without her permission' would probably set that back" He used finger quotations to emphasize his phrase.

"Who said anything about telling the group?" I smiled.

"I see." He winked before he gave in and started gently making out with me.

"I may not be as strong as you, but I'm not some dainty flower." I chuckled before returning his kisses with more force.

"I should've known." I felt him smirk as he also deepened the kiss. He managed to open his bedroom door and then pushed me against a wall. I lifted my legs and wrapped them around his torso. He lifted my t-shirt up pulling it off. I started to unbutton his shirt. He placed his hands under my thighs and carried me to the bed. He sat me down and I unbuttoned the remaining buttons and slid it off him before moving to the zipper on his pants. After I removed his pants, he laid me down and started to unzip my jeans. He slid off my pants and moved to be on top of me to resume kissing.

_What would Elena think if she found out? _I thought to myself before pushing it to the back of my mind. Right now, I didn't care what Elena would think. My mind is finally clear for the first time in many days and I'm taking full advantage of it.


	15. Gilberts Can't Help Themselves

I rolled on top of Damon and started kissing him. It was day number three of our little tryst and so far no one has found out. It's been easy to hide since I've been staying at the Salvatore's boarding house with Caroline waiting for the vervain to leave Liz's system so she can be compelled to forget about vampires. It was about to get harder to sneak around so I was relishing our last morning.

"Do you have to go help set up for the Masquerade ball at the Lockwood's?" He pouted.

"As much as I think that getting out of bed today is a bad idea, I need to go help. I need more community service hours so I can get back in the running to be the next Miss. Mystic Falls. Those months I was gone definitely lowered my chance so I'm trying to make up time." I explained while tracing patterns on his bare chest.

"You're running for Miss. Mystic Falls?" He furled his brow. "I can't imagine you caring about those kinds of things."

"I don't care, but all the community service hours keeps me busy and most importantly, I want to make my mom proud." I smiled thinking about her.

"Don't tell me that you're going to wear that same boring blue dress that Elena wore?" He groaned. "You know she lost."

"That's because she had you as an escort." I joked. "Sure, you have a founder's last name, but you aren't a star on the football team. Sadly, I lost Tyler Lockwood as my escort, so I guess I'll have to ask Stefan when the time comes around."

"As long as I don't have to do that stupid dance again, I'm happy." He smirked before rolling over to be on top. "Five more minutes?"

"I guess so." I started making out with him, but we didn't get far until Damon seemed to hear something.

"Who the hell is at the door?" He growled before getting off me and out of bed. He started getting dressed so I snuck into the room across from his that I was pretending to stay in so I could get some clothes out of the duffel bag that Elena brought me. I got ready for the day then went to go start making coffee in the kitchen.

Damon opened the door. "I need to talk to you." I heard Jeremy's voice.

"And why do I need to talk to you?" Damon tried to close the door on Jeremy, but he stopped the door.

**"**Tyler Lockwood has to kill someone to activate his curse." Jeremy blurted out. "He's not a werewolf yet." I poured myself a cup of coffee then started walking towards them.

**"**Wow, fascinating. Not enough." Damon again tried to close the door, but Jeremy caught it.

**"**But Mason Lockwood is and he's looking for a moonstone, a special rock connected to the werewolf legend." Jeremy explained. "That's why he's here."

**"**A moonstone?" Damon questioned.

"Maybe for the sun and moon curse." I suggested.

**"**And I know where it is." Jeremy declared.

**"**And you're bringing me this why?" Damon sounded exasperated.

"Do I need a reason? Look, I just want to help, okay?" Jeremy tried to reason with him.

**"**What did Elena say about this little discovery?" Damon quizzed Jeremy as he fell silent. **"**Oh, you haven't told her, have you?" Damon smirked.

**"**Well, Elena doesn't want me getting involved in all this." Jeremy admitted before trying to enter. "But Crystal doesn't mind me getting involved, right?"

"Don't answer." Damon said to me as he pushed Jeremy, so he didn't enter. **"**And you're a Gilbert and you just can't help yourself. Wow. Your search for life's purpose is as obvious as it is tragic."

**"**You going to let me in or not?" Jeremy asked. Damon stepped aside to let Jeremy in.

"Elena just believes that by letting you be involved; you will get hurt. I believe that keeping you out will get you hurt. Good thing that I'm the older sister. And if you're ever in trouble, Damon will always be here to help you." I shot Damon a sly glance and he glared. "I made some coffee so I can get you a cup."

"I never signed up for this." Damon grumbled which made me chuckle. "Don't you have a masquerade to go decorate for?"

"I'll just be a little late for that." I escorted Jeremy to the kitchen to get him a cup of coffee.

* * *

**"**Ric!" Damon greeted Alaric as he entered carrying a box of papers.

Alaric looked alarmed to see us. "What are you two doing here?"

**"**Helping Damon. I'm the one who found out about the moonstone." Jeremy announced.

Alaric looked at Damon who shrugged before turning back to Jeremy. "Does Elena know you're here?"

As Damon scrunched up his face and shook his head no, I chimed in. "His older sister knows he's here so Elena can get over it."

**"**What you got?" Damon changed the subject as he walked over and grabbed a book from the box.

**"**This is Isobel research from Duke." Alaric explained. "Her assistant sent it to me."

"Mmm, Vanessa. The hottie." Damon commented, which caused Alaric to take the book from him.

**"**Vanessa, yes." Alaric corrected him. "Now, do you remember the old Aztec curse she told us about?"

"Yes, the curse of the sun and the moon." I answered.

"Blah blah blah blah blah." Damon complained.

**"**An Aztec curse? Cool." Jeremy walked over sounding excited, which caused me to smile.

**"**Yeah, supposedly vampires and werewolves used to roam freely until a shaman put a curse on them to limit their power." Alaric started to inform Jeremy about the curse. "Since then, werewolves can only turn on a full moon and vampires are weakened by the sun."

Damon showed off his daylight ring. "Most of them, anyway."

**"**According to the legend, the werewolf part of the curse is sealed with the moonstone." Alaric handed Jeremy a map from the box and he opened it up. I went over to look at it and it had pictures that showed the story of the curse.

**"**What do you mean sealed?" Jeremy asked.

I started to try to define it for Jeremy. "I don't remember much magic stuff from my time with Uncle John, but ..."

Damon interrupted me. "It's a witch thing, whatever seals the curse is usually the key to unsealing the curse."

**"**Maybe Mason Lockwood believes he can use the moonstone to break the curse." Alaric suggested.

**"**If we start believing in some supernatural witchy-woo legend from a picture book, we're idiots." Damon turned to Jeremy. "Who has the stone now?"

**"**Tyler." Jeremy answered.

**"**Can you get it?" Damon inquired.

**"**Yeah." Jeremy replied.

"See, now your life has purpose." Damon said sarcastically.

**"**So, you do believe it?" Jeremy questioned.

**"**It's the same book that says a werewolf bite kills a vampire. Ignoring it would make me an even bigger idiot." Damon took a last sip of his bourbon before setting it down. "Let's go." He started walking towards the door.

I grabbed Jeremy's arm before he followed Damon and Alaric. "I know you can do this Jeremy, but just be careful. I trust Tyler not to harm you, but I don't trust Mason. He threatened both Caroline and Elena. Promise me that you'll be safe."

"I promise, Crys." He smiled. I let go of his arm and we caught up to Damon and Alaric.


End file.
